MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

AP – “Tunis: Two men have been convicted and sentenced to prison in Tunisia for posting on Facebook images of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), a court decision that drew support on Friday from the presidency of this once staunchly secular country.

Jaber Majeri and Gazi Jribi were convicted on March 28 by a Tunisian court for ‘insulting the sacred’ after they posted images of the Prophet with one of his wives, Aisha. They were each sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and fined $800 (Dh2,940).

The verdict, which was made public on Thursday, has been condemned by some as an attack on freedom of expression and a mark of the rising tide of religious conservatism in the country since a popular uprising ousted a dictator a year ago.

Since the fall of Zine Al Abidine Bin Ali, a moderate Islamist party Al Nahada won elections in October but has promised not to enshrine Islamic law in the new constitution. That has put it at odds with a vocal minority of Salafis.” Read more.

Flashback: Tunisia: Concerns Grow Over ‘Morality Police’ as Islamists Roam Streets Terrifying Women and Youth – “Bearded men roam the streets and batter with their batons those whom they perceive different from their sect, terrifying women and youths. Tunisian woman Monia Jawadi emphatically described what the country would look if it were to institutionalise its first morality police. Reports that Tunisia may establish a committee for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice have sent waves of anxiety among citizens, especially as the country struggles to preserve its social gains.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘A New Cycle of Civilization’: Tunisia’s Islamists Hail Arrival of the ‘Sixth Caliphate’ – “The Islamist politician likely to become Tunisia’s first democratically elected prime minister has alarmed liberals and secularists by claiming the arrival of the ‘sixth caliphate’, a controversial term for a Muslim empire. Hamadi Jebeli, secretary-general of Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party which romped to victory in last month’s elections, told a rally in the city of Sousse: ‘My brothers, you are at a historic moment in a new cycle of civilisation, God willing. We are in sixth caliphate…” Read more.